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Film plans to focus on organ donations

BUDDING filmmakers are being asked to make a short-film that will encourage people to talk about their organ donation wishes to family and friends.

NHS Blood and Transplant has launched the competition to raise awareness of organ donation.

It follows the success of the Organ Donation Through a Lens competition last year, in which medical photographers Alison Ling and Helen Knight, from the Royal Bolton Hospital, won two awards for their film, which featured youngsters from Blackrod Church School.

The two-minute work also featured three Royal Bolton Hospital nurses whose lives have been transformed by transplants, including mother-of-two Natalie Kerr, pictured, aged 30, from Adlington, who underwent a life-saving double-lung transplant a year ago.

This year’s competition is similar and focuses on the importance of having conversations with friends and family about their wishes for their organs after they have died.

Jemma North, producer and director of ITV current affairs series, Tonight, and one of the judges, said: “Not only do these films do a fantastic job of encouraging people to sign up to the NHS Organ Donor Register, they also showcase the amazing dedication of the medical teams involved, as well as the bravery of the donor families and the life-changing experiences of the recipients. Organ donation is such an important cause and one that can’t be publicised enough in my opinion.”